Plant progress
10 April 2026 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI planted up the furry hedgehog wildlife garden that I was given before Christmas ('plant before end of 2025', but even though it claims you can sow the contents indoors all year round, there really didn't seem any point in trying to grow basil seeds with indoor temperatures below 60F...) The pack contains a ridiculously large amount of grass seed, especially given that it has to fit round the outside of three pots and a terracotta hedgehog, so it may be just as well if germination rates are low :-p
(I wouldn't, personally, choose to introduce grass into my ecosystem, but as long as it stays in that one ornamental tray and doesn't set seed it should presumably be all right. Although I suppose any ungerminated seed is likely to get mixed back into the common compost supply at the end of the year...!)
Speaking of common compost supplies, I think I spotted the first mesembryanthemum seedling of the year in one of the strawberry pots -- just as I was thinking that the line was extinct after a couple of years when I failed to ripen any seed! I have pulled out another one of the strawberry cores that was obviously not going to put out any leaves (it was very dry and seemed dead, although to my surprise it still had quite a healthy root system on it) in order to reclaim the pot space, but I have left the other one that just has one small tuft of green on it. The healthier ones are currently putting out the beginnings of flowers, although to be honest none of the plants look all that vigorous this year :-(
All three of the towel-tomato seedlings in one of the pots have died, along with (worryingly) the worm that was in there, and which showed up dead on the surface. Of course the worms that are going into pots at this stage have all been surviving in dry conditions at the bottom of compost sacks for half a year, so may not be in the best of health to start off with, and it's possible that that particular pot simply suffered mechanical damage due to my accidentally trailing the skirts of my dressing-gown over it or crouching back onto it while examining other pots in the early morning... I am not short of towel-tomato seedlings (I have just potted up the 'good' batch, which makes another dozen), but the complete failure of all the plants in one pot while the remaining pots are thriving is a little odd.
The Roma tomatoes are not thriving after being repotted, although they are not dying either. They are far smaller than the second batch of towel-tomatoes, despite being much older, and I don't think they have grown very much since germination.
The dwarf peas have put out their first tendrils; the sweet peas have not yet produced tendrils, but required sticks simply to hold them upright, especially after the winds we have been having...
There are now four definite spring onion seedlings ;-)
(I wouldn't, personally, choose to introduce grass into my ecosystem, but as long as it stays in that one ornamental tray and doesn't set seed it should presumably be all right. Although I suppose any ungerminated seed is likely to get mixed back into the common compost supply at the end of the year...!)
Speaking of common compost supplies, I think I spotted the first mesembryanthemum seedling of the year in one of the strawberry pots -- just as I was thinking that the line was extinct after a couple of years when I failed to ripen any seed! I have pulled out another one of the strawberry cores that was obviously not going to put out any leaves (it was very dry and seemed dead, although to my surprise it still had quite a healthy root system on it) in order to reclaim the pot space, but I have left the other one that just has one small tuft of green on it. The healthier ones are currently putting out the beginnings of flowers, although to be honest none of the plants look all that vigorous this year :-(
All three of the towel-tomato seedlings in one of the pots have died, along with (worryingly) the worm that was in there, and which showed up dead on the surface. Of course the worms that are going into pots at this stage have all been surviving in dry conditions at the bottom of compost sacks for half a year, so may not be in the best of health to start off with, and it's possible that that particular pot simply suffered mechanical damage due to my accidentally trailing the skirts of my dressing-gown over it or crouching back onto it while examining other pots in the early morning... I am not short of towel-tomato seedlings (I have just potted up the 'good' batch, which makes another dozen), but the complete failure of all the plants in one pot while the remaining pots are thriving is a little odd.
The Roma tomatoes are not thriving after being repotted, although they are not dying either. They are far smaller than the second batch of towel-tomatoes, despite being much older, and I don't think they have grown very much since germination.
The dwarf peas have put out their first tendrils; the sweet peas have not yet produced tendrils, but required sticks simply to hold them upright, especially after the winds we have been having...
There are now four definite spring onion seedlings ;-)